The Making and the Breaking of the Serial Killer

The serial killer, Israel Keyes, made headlines recently. Keyes, who may have been the most meticulous serial killer of modern times, committed suicide in his prison cell in Anchorage, AK, at the beginning of this month. Since his death, details of his nefarious life that he relayed to the Anchorage Police since his arrest on March 12th, 2012, have become widely available. The current estimation for his death toll is eleven people, and his assaults spanned at least four states (AK, OR, WA, and VT), but probably more.

This reported (and demonstrated) rise in killings and assaults due to an out of control urge reminds us that like everyone else, their brain is constantly in flux and changing with life experience. Conduct Disorder (CD), sometimes known as childhoodpsychopathy (Lynam, 1997), is given as a diagnosis to children and teenagers who exhibit extreme antisocial traits, such as animal torture and cruelty (Dahmer and Keyes have both been implicated in this). If the antisocial traits are still there after the age of eighteen they would likely receive a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder (APD). In fact, CD in childhood has been shown as a predictor of psychopathy in adulthood (Burke, Loeber, & Lahey, 2007). To understand this idea of addiction, therefore, it is perhaps a good idea to consider the first time a child with CD comes across a cat, a dog, or a squirrel with that morbid sense of curiosity.

Addiction to anything starts with an introductory act; the anticipation of the act will be coupled with feelings of promise and exhilaration, and once the act has been completed there will be an elevated sense of satisfaction. The child’s lack or absence of empathy could mean that feelings of pain will not be reciprocated and the animal will not be afforded any special rights or immunity in the child’s eyes. A child’s destructive nature and curiosity (usually with respect to toys), coupled with CD, therefore, is a recipe for killing animals. And once the child has felt the exhilaration, something that the psychopathic crave, given their physiology, the antisocial behavior will be reinforced. This sets the ground for addiction, particularly given the high level of exhilaration.

Those with psychopathy and CD also show poor impulse control (Barry, et al., 2000), which seriously increases the likelihood of any behavior that has been met with high levels of reinforcement in the past. If you toss in the awakening of sexual feelings and impulses brought on by puberty, those with CD will inevitably start to see humans in a different way.

We must also look at the role of fantasy. Most people fantasize about things that they cannot have, but the psychopath has every intention of getting everything they desire. Psychopathic serial killers know that rape and killing provide exhilaration, and so in order to maximize that exhilaration they will plan out and fantasize over their next act. As they gain experience and learn what kinds of things provide maximum levels of reinforcement, they are likely to try and replicate the experience, perhaps trying to make it better than the time before. It must not be underestimated how much time and planning goes into this process, as they are expecting a huge physiological payoff. If the anticipation and the fantasizing goes as planned, the killer will get the stimulation they crave, but if not, all of that anticipation, planning, and personal investment will turn into frustration or rage.

Eventually, the serial killer is likely to meet a number of personal problems that frustrate their efforts for stimulation. Firstly, if the stimulation is contingent upon ever complex rituals and acts, then they will become harder and harder to fulfill. Secondly, if the well-planned and researched avenues for killing are shut off, due to police investigations or economic or social problems, then there is no promise of a forthcoming fix. And thirdly, there could be biological problems in the aging killer’s brain that make it harder for them to control their impulses.

I raise this last point as conjecture, because there have been no longitudinal studies of serial killers (or psychopaths) that have monitored any changes in integrity of the regions showing significant differences in the antisocial brain; for a review of these regions see Pemment (2010). In terms of impulse control, the frontal lobe plays a significant role (Brower & Price, 2001). The undeveloped regions of the frontal lobe could be responsible for the psychopath’s poor impulse control, anyway, but if the brain begins to expect a certain level of stimulation (which has been escalating over the course of their life), the compromised frontal lobe could lose its ability to have any control. Alcohol abuse, something that can often be comorbid among psychopaths (Morgenstern, Langenbucher, & Miller, 1997), is also responsible for frontal lobe shrinkage (Kubota, Nakazaki, Hirai, Yamaura, & Kusaka, 2001). Throw in frontal lobe dementia or early onset Alzheimer’s Disease and the problem of poor impulse control could escalate.

Neurologically and behaviorally, it is not hard to see why serial killers could end up falling apart. Hopefully, this decreases the adaptive value of psychopathy.

I totally disagree with you. I did a term paper on serial killers a number of years ago and come to the conclusion that they are made. They may be born with a lot of tendencies toward that spectrum but I don't think the tendencies make them a serial killer. Have you ever read the study of the Rhesus Monkeys?

I totally disagree with you. I did a term paper on serial killers a number of years ago and come to the conclusion that they are made. They may be born with a lot of tendencies toward that spectrum but I don't think the tendencies make them a serial killer. Have you ever read the study of the Rhesus Monkeys?

Thanks for your comment. Would you mind elaborating on the nature of your disagreement? Please bear in mind that serial killers are humans, too, and so just like the rest of us their brains are constantly changing with their experiences within the framework of their genome. There is no real dividing line between nature and nurture.
There have been many studies using Rhesus Monkeys. Do you know the title or have a link to the study?

I did the paper about 12 years ago. When I find it, I will send you the cite for this particular experiment with the Rhesus Monkeys. I REALLY understand that serial killers are people also and their brains are changing just like the rest of the world's population is. I am of the Freudian perspective....I know go ahead and laugh, but...for all his "sex" psychology which may have some merit or not, I am thinking along the lines of the subconscious. I think he figured this out and I think it was one of the most profound pieces of the human puzzle there is. Attachment theory has already been proven so put that with the subconscious and add the Rhesus Monkey Experiment and I firmly believe that that is how serial killers are made. I did a lot of research and that is the conclusion I came up with. A book called "The Brain" will explain more about how our brains are shaped, granted it was a long time ago that I read it, but I believe that some of the book is still accurate. I don't want you to think that I am trying to impose my belief on you, I just was looking at another perspective and wanted to share....who knows we might all be right. Thanks for not trashing me, and I am really interested in your research and serial killers.
Thank you
Anonymous

I welcome all perspectives! I, too, have a lot of respect for Freud. I think that his theory of the id, ego, and superego have become increasingly relevant, not just in serial killer and psychopath research, but in neuroscience in general.